Three years ago, when we set out On the Way we used two words to describe the future we were traveling towards; fruitful and sustainable.

Fruitfulness describes the outcomes of the life, mission and ministry of a church, group of churches or deanery. Sustainability describes the things that churches, or groups of churches, need to pay attention to in order to be fruitful. We might think of sustainability as the roots, trunk and branches of a tree, and fruitfulness as the leaves and fruit that it bears. Or, in another biblical image, of sustainability as good soil and fruitfulness as the plants that grow.

Deanery plans and the Diocesan Plan are built on the framework of fruitfulness and sustainability and it is against the 12 elements you can see in the two images, that set out all the ways we measure how our plans are doing.

The six elements shown in fruitfulness and the six in sustainability are centred around Jesus Christ, because the church is his body, and because he is the beginning and end of all our journeying.

SUSTAINABLE

A sustainable church or deanery (noting that not every church needs to do everything) will pay attention to:

  • Bringing people to a new faith, so that the good news of
    Jesus Christ is passed to the next generation
  • Enabling people to have a growing faith that develops and deepens over time
  • Enabling life giving leadership for ordained and lay leaders, rather than a ministry that is exhausting
  • Supporting a diversity of callings, both within and beyond the church
  • Ensuring we are generous enough to have the money needed to do the things we are called to do
  • Ensuring our Church buildings are a blessing not a burden

Sustainability is not a purpose in itself. The church needs to continue from one generation to the next so we can carry on serving the world in the name of Jesus Christ.

FRUITFUL

A fruitful church or deanery will therefore:

  • Be With + For those in need
  • Engage with schools, children and young people
  • Nurture people in their discipleship through worship, prayer, scripture and sacrament
  • Love one another and develop a rich and generous community life
  • Be connected to the International Church, learning from brothers and sisters in different settings
  • Cherish Creation by cutting carbon and speaking up about climate injustice.

We ask that you continue to hold each other in prayer as we work together to make our Church fruitful and sustainable.